Nothing But Time
by AxelAtari89
Summary: A State of Emergency, Lester's liquor collection, and nothing but time.
1. Chapter 1

**I own NOTHING but the idea for this story.**

**A State of Emergency, Lester's liquor collection, and nothing but time.**

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The world ends on a Thursday.

At least, according to Douglas Adams's _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_.

The last book Jess Parker remembers reading before this morning, which, coincidentally happened to be a Thursday.

Lester was out of the building on business with the Minister for the next few days.

Phillip had more important things to be doing at Prospero today and had confined Connor to his lab.

Abby, Becker, and Matt had left quarter of an hour ago to deal with an anomaly alert.

The trouble had begun when anomalies started appearing everywhere and Jess was forced to send every available ARC unit out to deal with the problem.

_"There's—there's too many. We're outnumb—"_ One of the groups transmitted before the signal went dead.

"Alpha Team One. Come in. Alpha Team One. Do you read me?" Jess spoke frantically, fingers flying across the keyboard.

_"Two more just opened up two blocks so—"_ Another group was overrun.

_"Jess,"_ Becker's voice came through the haze of pandemonium. "_Look, everything will—"_

"Becker?" Jess said in a frenzy, trying to enhance the signal.

"Becker can you hear me?" She asked the crackling signal.

_"There's—over.—Storm.—Stay—"_

Silence.

"Becker?"

Jess pounded at the keys.

"Can anyone hear me?" She tried to keep her voice level. "Anyone in the field, do you copy?"

Nothing.

Things could only get worse as another anomaly had opened in the ARC, coupled with an electrical storm raging outside.

Connor had left his lab to see what was happening at the hub.

"Jess, what's going on?" He asked, running up to the terminal with an EMD in his hand.

"There's—" She couldn't find the words to describe the chaos unfolding outside.

"Lockdown initiating." The computer announced as the ARC proceeding to seal itself and anyone not running for the nearest exits inside.

"We have a massive problem." Jess corrected herself as she and Connor watched the researchers and other various non-military members of the ARC running for their lives.

Connor moved forward to try and make sense of what he was seeing.

Scenes from various CCTV footage of creatures destroying things, people dying, fires, explosions, the massive storm to add to the destructiveness of it all.

He tried to find Abby and the team; but couldn't locate them.

"Need to get a message to the others before—"

Lockdown had finished; effectively cutting off all means of communications via the terminal.

"Great." Connor threw his hands up in the air.

The lights flickered several times before going out.

"One of those days where I wish I hadn't put my purse in my locker." Jess huffed. "My phone was in there."

"Forgot my phone on my desk in my lab." Connor spoke, as he moved about the room, looking for some way out, using the torch on the EMD.

"Well, on the sort-of-bright-side, we're safe-er." Jess stated as she strained to see as Connor gave up his futile search.

"But the others aren't." Connor retorted darkly, shutting the torch off.

"We need to find torches." Jess pointed out.

"Isn't there an emergency kit around here somewhere?" Connor inquired.

"Yes," Jess got to her feet; her eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness.

"I think there's an emergency pack near the station back that way." Jess pointed before realizing Connor probably couldn't see her finger in the first place.

Connor switched the torch back on. "Where?"

Jess pointed again and he followed the direction she was pointing.

Connor returned with a small lantern and the emergency pack.

"There's a first aid, a couple of protein bars, batteries for the lantern, and a few other things." He explained.

"Well, it's a start."

"It's all we have." Connor stated with finality.

Jess tried to sum up today in her mind the events of today as Connor's words sunk in.

No authoritative figurehead of the ARC would be around for a few days.

An anomaly that called out Abby, Becker, and Matt had only heralded more anomalies than the ARC was ever prepared to deal with at one time.

An anomaly had opened in the ARC initiating lockdown.

A storm cut the power totally just as lockdown had completed and had cut them off from everything and everyone.

However, their current predicament was small compared to the war being raged outside.

Outside people were dying.

Possibly people they loved.

And here, the pair of them would probably die of starvation.

That is, if whatever emerged from the anomaly couldn't make it to them first.

For now, she needed to find some way of keeping her head on and focusing on staying alive.

She was vaguely aware of Connor shining the lantern near her; studying her facial expressions.

"I'm fine." She tried to assure him.

"I'm not." He admitted.

She gave him a confused look.

Connor was the one to always try and maintain a positive attitude, but why wasn't he now?

Jess mentally scolded herself.

It was the same reason she was trying to assure him she _was_ alright.

Her fiancé and his fiancée were both out in the field fighting for their lives to try and survive what very well may be the apocalypse.

And here she was trying to lie about her current feelings on the situation to try and keep things positive.

"Come on," Connor spoke.

"Where?" Jess inquired quizzically.

"Lester's office, we need somewhere to sit and come up with some sort of plan." He explained as he walked toward the doorway of the sub-office at the end of the room on the right.

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More soon, though it will probably only a two-chapter thing unless people like this. It was inspired by my recent endeavor in reading _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ series, which is a really awesome series so far!

Anyway, let me know your thoughts please!


	2. Chapter 2

**I own NOTHING but the idea for this story.**

**A State of Emergency, Lester's liquor collection, and nothing but time.**

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Jess sat in Lester's chair and watched, through the glass panes, the glint of the torch on Connor's EMD as he did another sweep of the Main Operations Room for anything that could be of some use.

She watched as he came back into the office and closed the door tightly.

She could see the in dim light of the lantern that Connor had found some blankets; fire blankets no doubt, but again, better than nothing.

Connor handed one of the blankets to Jess.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"We should get some sleep and work out a plan when we wake up." Connor spoke, not meeting her eyes.

Jess nodded.

Connor took his jacket off and folded it before handing it to Jess.

"It's cold." She argued.

"The blankets should keep us warm enough. Lester's office operates under a different thermostat and despite the electricity being gone; this room is still slightly warmer than outside of it. You can use it as a makeshift pillow." He offered the jacket again.

Jess took the jacket and set up a sleeping place on the floor between the glass pane and the left-hand side of Lester's desk.

Connor set up on the floor in front of Lester's desk; his feet to the door, EMD nearby.

"Night." Jess whispered.

"Night." Connor whispered back as they settled into their respective sleeping spaces.

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Jess couldn't sleep.

On other occasions, maybe she'd have been able to but, given the circumstances, right now seemed a terrible time to sleep.

She leaned over and grabbed one of the torches off Lester's desk and curled the fire blanket around her as she sat down next to the glass pane and turned the torch.

She surveyed the abandoned and darkened Main Operations Room with the small light.

Nothing seemed probable any longer.

Happiness she felt before the anomalies today now flickered like distant memories.

"What are you looking for?" A voice asked quietly in the dark behind her.

Maybe it was that her nerves were shot.

Yes, that was it.

Because she hadn't jumped when the words came from his mouth.

"I can't sleep." She replied simply.

"It's not a time for sleeping." He agreed.

She turned to look in his direction. The dim lantern casting dancing shadows across his face.

His chocolate eyes were looking up at her from his makeshift bed.

"The world's ending outside." Jess whispered. "And possibly a creature somewhere in the ARC looking for fresh meat."

"We'll be safe for now."

Jess hugged the fire blanket closer to her person.

"I'm thirsty." She muttered. "Shame those emergency packs didn't contain water or something."

Connor stared up at the ceiling as if he were thinking about something.

"Well, there's one place we hadn't checked just yet." He pointed out before sitting up and walking around Lester's desk.

"I doubt Lester would have anything—" Jess trailed off, watching Connor rifle through the various drawers and cabinets that usually surrounded Lester during his duties here.

Her eyes widened as Connor produced several bottles of liquor from a cabinet beneath the small television set behind Lester's chair.

"I never pegged Lester for a heavy drinker. I—I mean, I know we have all joked about it—but—but—" She rambled.

"Do you want whiskey, vodka, or" he held up a bottle to his face, searching for a label. "I'm really not sure what this one is; mystery liquor?"

"Lester would _fire_ us if he found out we were drinking his stash. Besides, I was thinking more along the lines of water."

"Jess, we're probably the _last_ people alive. Getting fired is the least of our worries."

Jess eyed the three bottles in the dimness.

"We've got nothing but time, Jess."

"Three bottles of liquor, a couple of protein bars, and nothing but time. One thing I've learned in the Cretaceous is to make due with what you have." Connor explained softly, after a moment.

Jess looked up from the bottles, having made up her mind.

"Have we got any glasses to split a bottle?"

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End it there? Or continue?

Tell me your thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own NOTHING but the idea for this story.**

**A State of Emergency, Lester's liquor collection, and nothing but time.**

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Jess laughed as she and Connor drank the whiskey.

She was unsure whether it was the alcohol to blame or her finally realizing the irony.

"What?" Connor asked before taking another swig.

"It's just—it's just that I've finally realized the irony of our situation."

Connor raised an eyebrow and waited for Jess to continue.

"I read a book and finished it this morning. It said the world would end on a Thursday and it has."

"Douglas Adams's _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_." Connor nodded as they both took another swig from the glasses Connor had found in the cabinet.

Jess nodded to confirm. "And in the book, at the beginning, when the world was about to end, Ford—"

"Convinced Arthur to go to a bar and have a few drinks." Connor offered a smile.

"Waiting to get picked up by some spaceship or something."

"'D be nice." Connor mused. "Could see the stars."

"We'd be leaving behind everything we knew." Jess pointed out.

Then, the light mood was darkened as the smiles faded.

"I only just got engaged." Jess whispered solemnly.

"I was finally engaged to the man I wanted to marry and—and everything's just gone." Jess whimpered, trying to find the desk to set her drink down.

"And you, you and Abby were supposed to get married next month." She added, staring somewhere off in the darkness.

"It was postponed anyway." Connor said as he downed the last of his drink.

"Why?"

Connor shrugged. "Something happened with Abby's family. She wouldn't tell me. Said she was gonna travel to Brighton this weekend to try and sort it out. So we decided to postpone everything and let everyone know before she left this weekend."

"Connor, I—I'm so sorry." Jess apologized as she gave up searching for the desk and downed the remainder of her drink as well.

"It doesn't really matter now. The world's over. We've lost." He brushed her off, pouring another drink for himself and another for her as well.

"You know, I never thought the phrase 'if you were the last person on Earth' would ever actually be applied in my life." Jess mused.

"Could be worse."

"That's not what I meant." Jess shook her head slowly.

Connor leaned against Lester's desk and sighed. "Even if we do manage to find a way out of here, there's still the possibility of creature incursion to deal with. What would we do then?"

Jess didn't immediately answer, opting instead to down some more of her drink.

"The ARC is probably the safest place on Earth at this point." Connor stated after a break to take a swig of his own drink.

"So, what? We'd just spend the rest of our lives here? Until we—"

Connor nodded.

Jess located Lester's desk in that moment as she began to fall forward sobbing uncontrollably.

Connor caught her and held her to him.

"Nothing will be the same from today on; but we'll make the most of it, yeah?" Connor spoke as he hugged her.

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Some time later, Connor and Jess were sat on the floor again, sitting shoulder to shoulder; their backs to the glass panes and facing Lester's desk.

They'd gone through a bottle and a half of Lester's liquor.

"Connor, promise me, if and when it comes to it: if and when we run out of food, no cannibalism, yeah?" Jess muttered in slurred tones.

Connor burst into laughter, coaxing a laugh or two from Jess.

"I promise." He laughed before taking another swig from his glass; then opting to just finish the glass off.

"It's like a never-ending shift." Jess pointed out, staring at the shadows playing on the wall from the lantern.

"But neither of us is alone. That's good, innit?"

"It'll have to do." Jess teased, trying to down the rest of her drink.

"I think you've had too much to drink, Ms. Parker." Connor retorted in mock hurt as he confiscated her glass from her hand and set it off to the side with his.

Jess shook her head unsurely. "I don't think there's enough alcohol in Lester's office for me."

Connor turned and slowly placed his hands on either side of her face. The hazy numbness of the alcohol getting to him as well as his head moved forward and gently bumped foreheads with Jess.

"I won't let anything happen to you." He forced his promise through the haze and slurred speech. "On my life."

"I think—I think—" Jess squinted her eyes as if it would assist her thought process. "Perhaps, our proximity is too close even if we are in space."

Connor chuckled lightly. "We in space?"

"Ford got us—hitched—from the—p—p—plan—planet before it—are you gonna kiss me or not?" Jess rambled against the alcohol swimming about in her system.

"Shh—just a kiss?" Connor asked before leaning the last few centimeters forward to brush Jess's lips.

"Just a kiss—shh." Jess giggled against his lips.

"Why are we whispering?" Connor laughed in a whisper as he fell to his side.

"Why not?" She fell to her side as well laughing lightly.

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**I may have found a plausible storyline, so rule nothing out just yet!**


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